Lost Property
by In This Nightmare
Summary: Gene and Alex Hunt: Happily married with their eight year old son Nathan. But before their commitment to each other something else was born. Born out of a drunken encounter. Now ten years from that adoption, the thing that started their life together returns with the name Mikey. But will Mikey fit into the jigsaw of their lives?


**Lost Property**

**Hi everyone :) so if there is anyone out there who ships Galex then I think you'll like this :D if you do please don't hesitate to tell me. In this story Keats happened. Never liked him. **

**Chapter 1 **

_**1994**_

Alex rolled over on her side and saw Gene's still form breathing peacefully. The lack of shine seeping through the curtains told her it was still early morning. She never expected to actually sleep through the whole night. Of all the nights in the year this was the one where her mind was too agitated to sleep. She looked over at Gene and wondered how he could sleep so soundly through all of this. Did he not care? Or did he choose to forget the date, let it be just another day?

The man's mind was wired differently to her's so it was hard to know what he was feeling. She remember this very day in particular and she always would. To think it stared with her waking unexpectedly next to Gene Hunt of all people. It had lead to where they were now but there were just a piece of their lives missing. Alex knew she wasn't going to sleep anymore tonight so she shifted out of the shared bed, pulled on her dressing gown and headed as quietly as she could through the hall and down the stairs.

Once in the safety of the living room's quiet atmosphere, she lit a dim lamp and opened the cupboard beneath the bulk of the television set. She ruffled through past documents and folders till the baby blue one stuck out and caught her eye. She no longer cared for the others as with shaky hands she slipped her hand inside the cardboard and pulled out the papers. Among the documents the typical 80's style photograph rested in her fingers. She's studied the badly pixelated face a thousands times, always on this night, every year. The had only ever been one copy of this photograph and it belonged hidden away, along with document of life, not donned on the mantle piece, or the walls or her bedside table like the photographs of the others whom she lived with.

Sunlight began to slowly sweep through the living room curtains and Alex packed away the papers before the sunlight could touch them. She stood up and decided on a cup of tea.

Once made she sat with her feet beneath her on the sofa, looking at the now closed cabinet, undisturbed. Heavy footfalls and grunts could be heard upstairs and Gene made his way down and turned into the living room to see his wife on the sofa. He didn't even have to follow her vision to know what she was looking at. The Manc Lion made himself some tea before sitting besides Alex, his arm over the back of the sofa. Alex leaned into the crook of his neck, the steaming mugs of tea warming their hands.

'Do you think he's happy?'

'Ya ask the same thing every year, Bolls. I bet he's just fine; probably wantin' 'is toys and whatever they get 'im.' Alex closed her eyes and imagined what he might look like now. Ten years. He'd been born with a few tufts of dark hair, just like her, but had his eyes turned brown like hers or stayed blue? When she opened her eyes she was met with the closest up-to-date image of him she could have. Her son Nathan had ears like radar's and as soon as his parents were up he was: wanting to go into the garden or watch cartoons. Alex smiled warmly at her eight-year-old son and nodded, watching the toothy grin her son made before dashing across the room and picked up the controller. Alex rolled her eyes as Nathan loaded up the Nintendo Home Entertainment System.

Alex watched Nathan rush for some cereal as the machine started and she felt the pang in her chest, as she knew Nathan would never know him, never know his brother. Wherever her eldest son was, what ever his name was, who ever he'd been adopted by, Alex hoped he was happy.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Mikey Lancaster sat at the table with the same sour expression on his face. Everyone was dashing about the house, kids from the street ran between the house and the garden. Adults chatted and gossiped in corners. Mikey sat as far from them as he could, engrossed in the torn pages of his favorite Batman comic. He wasn't allowed to sit up in his room with his toy drum set, he was forced to sit downstairs and socialize. He hated to socialize so he re-read his comic. The birthday cake had come and gone, eaten and crumbs wiped away.

He knew his mother was shooting half annoyed/half curious looks as he didn't touch his presents or talk to the other kids from the street. He only liked his comic and his drum set. He was never to far from one of them. His birthdays hadn't been the same for the last two years ever since he found out his identity was a lie. He was never given a real name, his adoptive parents had come up with it, a way of insuring he belonged to them. He did love the people he'd called mum and dad but knowing they weren't biologically related seemed to put a dent in their relationship.

Not too soon after, the remains of the party disintegrated until the three members of the Lancaster family remained. Ben Lancaster wiped down the table and Jennifer Lancaster placed left over food in the fridge. As the married couple of fifteen years tidied up, Mikey sat on the floor, now reading the evening paper, pondering the case of the random shootings on families in their own homes in London. They lived mere seconds outside the city and lately they'd heard their fair share of the sirens. Jennifer Lancaster got the hoover out and sighed when she saw Mikey in the way.

'Why don't you play outside for a bit?' She did not need to ask twice. Mikey left his comic on the table and stood out in the garden, his sour expression lessening once out of view. He headed towards an aging swing set in the corner of the garden but changed his mind and headed towards the gate, which he easily unlatched and closed behind himself.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Mikey had picked up a stick and trailed it along the metal railings of the park. The last of Saturday was leaving the sky, but he paid no attention as he pushed open the park gate and abandoned his stick. Families were leaving which made it easy to climb up to the top of the climbing frame. It was empty save for a younger boy giggling madly as he hid from obvious sight. The younger boy saw Mikey and between giggles held a finger to his lips. Mikey copied the boy as he pushed himself down the slide. He reached the bottom when a set of strong arms grabbed him and held him high like a trophy.

'I told ya, Nathan, we gotta-' the man faulted when he saw he had the wrong boy and set Mikey down. 'Sorry lad, though you were our Nathan then.' Mikey frowned at the man; if he meant the boy on the frame hiding away they looked nothing alike. For one the other boy was blonde, where as he had much darker hair. Mikey wandered away from the man and re-climbed the set. The giggling boy was still there.

'Nathan, come on!' A woman's voice now called out and the boy, Nathan looked over to Mikey and stifled his giggles. He reached in his pockets and produced a set of car keys.

'I took my dad's keys.' The boy laughed at the simple thing before turning and pushing himself down the slide. Mikey followed suit and slid to the bottom of the metal. He saw the boy, Nathan, laugh as the tall man from before chased him around the play-area. Mikey saw the woman's voice belonged to a tall dark haired woman, her curls pressed beneath a white knitted hat and she wore a long coat that she hid from the wind in. She looked sort of sad.

She looked over at Mikey and his returned sour expression. Eventually the tall blonde man caught his son and re-claimed his keys. The man smiled and nodded the woman presumably his wife and she followed the man and laughing boy.

'Bye!' Nathan called back as he grasped his mother's hand. Mikey frowned as he watched the family move on and the woman looked back at him once more.

At last the park was empty save for Mikey, who began to feel the cold without his coat. All he had as protection against the cold were his denim dungarees and t-shirt. The birthday boy left the park and headed in the opposite direction, running back home and ignoring the blare of a red car's horn as he ran across the road. He ran along the streets, missing the other children still playing on the streets as he raced towards the terraced house he called home.

Mikey reached the front door and pushed it open, not for a second wondering why it was unlocked. The young boy reached the joint kitchen-diner to see the set of bodies on the floor, the bullets in their brains, dead on the ground. Mikey stepped forth and the tips of his trainers began to absorb the red liquid as he looked at the murdered forms.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Police snapped photographs, forensics dabbed at the spilled blood and a social worker sat next to Mikey on the stairs, the boy watching the bodies wheeled out of the house on gurneys.

'Want one poppet?' the woman offered a bag of Rhubarb and custards, trying out the friendly social worker act but Mikey's mind was too preoccupied. A police officer (one of the many) found a folder containing Mikey's adoption files and handed it to the woman who ruffled through the papers. She looked down at Mikey and ruffled the boy's hair. There were going to be some major changes in this boy's life from now on.

**A/N: on' worry you'll see who shot them later, and other things will be explained over time. If you think this story is worth continuing please let me know :D thanks a bunch. **


End file.
